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<\/p>\n <\/font><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Links to Hebrew poems are in the text. Some of <\/span>the English poems discussed can be found at "<\/font><\/em><\/strong>A Pinch of Salt<\/a>" <\/span><\/em><\/strong>and<\/font><\/span><\/em><\/strong> "The Other Voices<\/font><\/a>".<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n <\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Amir Or. Plates from the Museum of Time and other poems<\/u>. London, New Delhi, New York, Toronto. AARK ARTS. <\/span>2009. 28 pages. <\/span>£<\/span>3.99. ISBN 1-899179-31-3.<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/span><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>The half-dozen “other poems” in this collection art have been translated from Hebrew, but Amir Or, like some emerging world poets, has written the rest in English. Absent the translators’ credit lines, even the discerning reader would find it hard to see a difference. Both groups contain direct, spare language, lines with significant internal hesitations to isolate a clause or image, and a reflected, understated tone.<\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>The six translated poems tend towards narrative: an unrepentant Nazi reflects on “The perfect murder” in “<\/font>A Glass of Beer<\/font><\/a>”; cooks follow a master’s detailed recipe in “<\/font>Immortality<\/font><\/a>”; barbarians sink seamlessly into the conquered city in Or’s variation on Cavafy’s “<\/font>Waiting for the Barbarians<\/font><\/a>”; the surge of lust in “El Amor Brujo” grows and peaks with “<\/font>The animal in my heart smells you always.<\/font><\/a>”<\/font><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span>The poems in the “Plates” sequence are more reflective—literally, since mirrors and surfaces like eyes and paintings are invoked. These are suggestive rather than definitive, since they cannot convey process or metamorphoses. But they can, on (mental) reflection, shed light and lead to both kinds of vision.<\/font><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWORLD LITERATURE TODAY <\/span><\/span>Feb.2010<\/font><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n